There’s been some renewed discussion of some of the ideas from this thread, and it’s made me rethink one of this thread’s main goals: restructuring the opening scene to be more engaging.

EddieDean’s idea to have Padme be the MacGuffin from the very beginning, thus increasing the parallels to ANH, was great on paper. However, in practice, cutting the opening negotiation entirely made the movie feel somewhat incomplete. So, I figured out a way to keep the focus on Padme, while maintaining the negotiation scenes: have the Jedi’s goal be to bargain for Padme’s freedom.

Here’s the crawl I’m thinking of using. I had three main goals here: to center the main conflict squarely on “saving the princess” (or queen in this case), increase the level of urgency in general, and include exposition for certain key story elements (since my planned prequel edits are intended for chronological order).

Episode I
THE PHANTOM MENACE

The galaxy is in chaos. Driven
by greed and lust for power,
the ruthless Trade Federation
has blockaded the peaceful
planet of Naboo.

As the Federation prepares
to send their fearsome droid
armies to seize the planet’s
valuable resources, the last
hope of Naboo’s queen lies in
the Jedi Knights, guardians of
peace and wielders of the
mystic Force.

And so, Jedi master Qui-Gon
Jinn and his apprentice have
been dispatched by Chancellor
Valorum, leader of the galactic
government, to bargain for the
queen’s freedom, unaware that
a sinister force is behind
these shocking events…